Winter weather keeps crews busy, and it’s not over yet

Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 4:11am

Staff reports

The biggest snow event since 2003 may have given school children a few days off, but it meant just the opposite for local emergency crews that worked to clear roads and respond to crashes and other emergencies.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation and Metro Public Works worked around the clock from early Friday morning until late Monday night clearing roadways.

Metro crews were likely still working overnight to clear secondary streets when the National Weather Service issued a significant weather advisory for most of Middle Tennessee.

Light rain, light freezing rain and sleet were expected to push northeast across the Midstate overnight, the NWS said. Black ice had been reported in cities to the southwest at 10:30 p.m. Monday.

The advisory may require a little extra time for the Tuesday morning commute.

“Ground and road surfaces in many areas are at or below freezing already and with air temperatures expected to fall to freezing or just below in the overnight hours,” according to the weather advisory. “Low-lying areas will have the most problems with the freezing rain due to the trapped colder air.”

From 8 a.m. to midnight Friday, Metro police responded to 209 non-injury crashes and 44 injury crashes. Those numbers dropped on Saturday and continued to taper off over the weekend. Crashes reported Saturday included 96 non-injury and 12 injury accident; on Sunday, those figures were down to 85 and 21, respectively. Monday morning seemed better for commuters, with only 21 non-injury and six injury accidents reported.

And when it seemed the worst was over, an accident on Interstate 40 claimed the life of a Lebanon woman who lost control of her SUV in slush along the side of the highway and slammed into the concrete divider.

School Resource Officers assisted in responding to crashes on Friday and Monday, and officers assigned to the gang reduction and highway safety initiatives were pulled in to help work crashes.

Schools remain closed

Metro Nashville Public Schools made the decision to stay closed Tuesday due to remaining snow and ice on less-traveled roadways.

Davidson County joined surrounding counties — Cheatham, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson — that also will remain closed.

1 Comment on this post:

By:willtw on 2/2/10 at 7:07

3 calls to Public Works, " you are on the list..." now going into the 4th day, no mail (post office will not deliver up our hill), 5 minutes with a snow plow and a little brine would ease the situation but nooooooooooooooooooo, no money...but we can build and go into debt for a convention center!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is wrong with this picture? 30 trucks for 5,000 miles of roadway?????????